One of the most important functions of government--risk management--is one of the least well understood. Moving beyond the most familiar public functions--spending, taxation, and regulation--When All Else Fails spotlights the government's pivotal role as a risk manager. It reveals, as never before, the nature and extent of this governmental function, which touches almost every aspect of economic life. 
 In policies as diverse as limited liability, deposit insurance, Social Security, and federal disaster relief, American lawmakers have managed a wide array of private-sector risks, transforming both the government and countless private actors into insurers of last resort. Drawing on history and economic theory, David Moss investigates these risk-management policies, focusing in particular on the original logic of their enactment. The nation's lawmakers, he finds, have long believed that pervasive imperfections in private markets for risk necessitate a substantial government role. It remains puzzling, though, why such a large number of the resulting policies have proven so popular in a country famous for its anti-statism. Moss suggests that the answer may lie in the nature of the policies themselves, since publicly mandated risk shifting often requires little in the way of invasive bureaucracy. Well suited to a society suspicious of government activism, public risk management has emerged as a critical form of government intervention in the United States.

When All Else Fails: Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager

Business & Money

Moss, David A.

Economics

Harvard University Press

One of the most important functions of government--risk management--is one of the least well understood. Moving beyond the most familiar public functions--spending, taxation, and regulation--When All Else Fails spotlights the government's pivotal role as a risk manager. It reveals, as never before, the nature and extent of this governmental function, which touches almost every aspect of economic life.
In policies as diverse as limited liability, deposit insurance, Social Security, and federal disaster relief, American lawmakers have managed a wide array of private-sector risks, transforming both the government and countless private actors into insurers of last resort. Drawing on history and economic theory, David Moss investigates these risk-management policies, focusing in particular on the original logic of their enactment. The nation's lawmakers, he finds, have long believed that pervasive imperfections in private markets for risk necessitate a substantial government role. It remains puzzling, though, why such a large number of the resulting policies have proven so popular in a country famous for its anti-statism. Moss suggests that the answer may lie in the nature of the policies themselves, since publicly mandated risk shifting often requires little in the way of invasive bureaucracy. Well suited to a society suspicious of government activism, public risk management has emerged as a critical form of government intervention in the United States.

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year
“This absolutely splendid book is a triumph on every level. A first-rate history of the United States, it is beautifully written, deeply researched, and filled with entertaining stories. For anyone who wants to see our democracy flourish, this is the book to read.” ―Doris Kearns Goodwin
To all who say our democracy is broken―riven by partisanship, undermined by extremism, corrupted by wealth―history offers hope. Democracy’s nineteen cases, honed in David Moss’s popular course at Harvard and taught at the Library of Congress, in state capitols, and at hundreds of high schools across the country, take us from Alexander Hamilton’s debates in the run up to the Constitutional Convention to Citizens United. Each one presents a pivotal moment in U.S. history and raises questions facing key decision makers at the time: Should the delegates support Madison’s proposal for a congressional veto over state laws? Should Lincoln resupply Fort Sumter? Should Florida lawmakers approve or reject the Equal Rights Amendment? Should corporations have a right to free speech? Moss invites us to engage in the passionate debates that are crucial to a healthy society.
“Engagingly written, well researched, rich in content and context… Moss believes that fierce political conflicts can be constructive if they are mediated by shared ideals.” ―Glenn C. Altschuler, Huffington Post
“Gives us the facts of key controversies in our history―from the adoption of the constitution to Citizens United―and invites readers to decide for themselves… A valuable resource for civic education.” ―Michael Sandel, author of Justice

Democracy: A Case Study

History

Americas

Belknap Press: An Imprint of Harvard University Press

Socializing Security examines the early movement for worker-security legislation in the United States. It focuses on a group of academic economists who became leading proponents of social insurance and protective labor legislation during the first decades of the twentieth century. These economists―including John R. Commons and Richard T. Ely―founded the American Association for Labor Legislation (AALL). As intellectuals and political activists, they theorized about the social efficiency of security legislation, proposed policies, and drafted model bills. They campaigned vigorously for industrial safety laws, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and compulsory health insurance.
The AALL reformers were successful in some of their legislative campaigns, but failed in two of their most important ones, those for unemployment insurance and health insurance. In examining the obstacles that the reformers faced, David Moss highlights a variety of political and institutional constraints, including the constitutional doctrine of federalism and gender-biased judicial decisions.
The goal of the AALL reformers, Moss demonstrates, was not to relieve the poor, but rather to prevent workers and their families from falling into poverty as a result of accidents or illness. In favoring security over relief, economists in the progressive era defined and confirmed what has remained, for some eighty years, one of the essential values of American social policy. In concluding, Moss suggests that new policies may now be necessary in an economy in which falling wages and fewer jobs, rather than industrial hazards, are increasingly to blame for the precarious situation of the American worker.

Socializing Security: Progressive-Era Economists and the Origins of American Social Policy

“This absolutely splendid book is a triumph on every level. A first-rate history of the United States, it is beautifully written, deeply researched, and filled with entertaining stories. For anyone who wants to see our democracy flourish, this is the book to read.”―Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals
To all who say our democracy is broken―riven by partisanship, undermined by extremism, corrupted by wealth―history offers hope. In nearly every generation since the nation’s founding, critics have lodged similar complaints, and yet the nation is still standing. In Democracy: A Case Study, Harvard Business School professor David Moss reveals that the United States has often thrived on conflict.
Democracy’s nineteen case studies take us from James Madison and Alexander Hamilton’s debates in the run up to the Constitutional Convention to Citizens United. They were honed in Moss’s popular and highly influential course at the Harvard Business School and are now being taught in high schools across the country. Each one presents readers with a pivotal moment in U.S. history and raises questions facing key decision makers at the time: Should the delegates support Madison’s proposal for a congressional veto over state laws? Should President Lincoln resupply Fort Sumter? Should Florida lawmakers approve or reject the Equal Rights Amendment?
Readers are asked to weigh the choices and consequences, wrestle with momentous decisions, and come to their own conclusions. Moss invites us to consider what distinguishes a constructive from a destructive conflict, to engage in the passionate debates that are crucial to a healthy society, and to experience American history anew. You will come away from this engaging and thought-provoking book with a deeper understanding of American democracy’s greatest strengths and weaknesses―and a new appreciation of its extraordinary resilience.

Now more than ever before, executives and managers need to understand their larger economic context. In A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, David Moss leverages his many years of teaching experience at Harvard Business School to lay out important macroeconomic concepts in engaging, clear, and concise terms. In a simple and intuitive way, he breaks down the ideas into output,” money,” and expectations.” In addition, Moss introduces powerful tools for interpreting the big-picture economic developments that shape events in the contemporary business arena. Detailed examples are also drawn from history to illuminate important concepts. This book is destined to become a staple in MBA coursesas well as the go-to resource for executives and managers at all levels seeking to brush up on their knowledge of macroeconomic dynamics.

A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know

Harvard Business Review Press

Understanding the Ground Rules for the Global Economy In this revised and updated edition of A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, David A. Moss draws on his years of teaching at Harvard Business School to explain important macro concepts using clear and engaging language. This guidebook covers the essentials of macroeconomics and examines, in a simple and intuitive way, the core ideas of output, money, and expectations. Early chapters leave you with an understanding of everything from fiscal policy and central banking to business cycles and international trade. Later chapters provide a brief monetary history of the United States as well as the basics of macroeconomic accounting. You’ll learn why countries trade, why exchange rates move, and what makes an economy grow. Moss’s detailed examples will arm you with a clear picture of how the economy works and how key variables impact business and will equip you to anticipate and respond to major macroeconomic events, such as a sudden depreciation of the real exchange rate or a steep hike in the federal funds rate. Read this book from start to finish for a complete overview of macroeconomics, or use it as a reference when you’re confronted with specific challenges, like the need to make sense of monetary policy or to read a balance of payments statement. Either way, you’ll come away with a broad understanding of the subject and its key pieces, and you’ll be empowered to make smarter business decisions.

A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, Second Edition: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know

Ascent Audio

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Moss, David A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Moss, David A.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Moss, David A.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

When All Else Fails: Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager

When All Else Fails: Government as the Ultimate Risk Manager

Democracy: A Case Study

Socializing Security: Progressive-Era Economists and the Origins of American Social Policy

Democracy: A Case Study

A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know

A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, Second Edition: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know

A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics, Second Edition: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know